


it never felt right calling this 'just friends'

by eliiiwhyyy



Category: CrankGameplays - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF, markiplier - Fandom
Genre: Also a lot of sexual innuendos but no smut, Alternate Universe - High School, Gay, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, I'm Sorry, M/M, Sorry!, They aren't YouTubers, This is a "we act gay but we arent actually dating but everyone thinks we are" au, no youtube, very gay, whoops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-14
Updated: 2017-06-14
Packaged: 2018-11-14 02:41:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,149
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11198751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eliiiwhyyy/pseuds/eliiiwhyyy
Summary: "It's just a friends thing," they'd always say.In which Mark and Ethan may act a bit more gayer than most best friends do, but they aren't actually into each other. Or are they?





	it never felt right calling this 'just friends'

**Author's Note:**

> No smut! Ethan has said he feels uncomfy with that sorta thing, so I'm never gonna write smut with him in it (I dont write smut regardless lmaaoooo) 
> 
> Also this is a highschool AU with them not having youtube channels. 
> 
> Thank you to my good friend on Quotev for help with this!! I'm sorry if they're ooc but I tried
> 
> Enjoy xx 
> 
> (title is from the song 'walls' by all time low)

1.

“Ethan, try this,” Mark’s deep voice cut through the conversation, making said boy plus all their friends look at the pair. Mark was holding up a fork with some sort of pasta on it, his face deadly serious as he looked at his blue haired friend. “It has no nuts in it, promise. I used nut-free ingredients just so you could eat it.”

 

Ethan stared at him for a moment, before shrugging and opening his mouth for Mark to feed him, which the red-head did – without question. This was normal for them, they had been feeding each other for years, especially when it was something one of them cooked (and it was _always_ nut-free, despite Ethan telling Mark that he could eat nuts, he didn’t have to go nut free as well). And they remained oblivious to the stares that their friends were giving them, not even noticing that the conversation had died within the group.

 

Mark grinned, tilting his head, his focus entirely on Ethan. “How is it?” he asked, looking entirely like a puppy wanting to be praised.

 

“You’ve gotten better,” blue haired grinned, grabbing the fork out of Mark’s hand and eating some more. “I like it!”

 

From the other side of the table, Amy scoffed. “Unbelievable, are you two dating yet?” she asked accusingly, causing the two to blush simultaneously.

 

“Nope,” both boys automatically responded, before looking at each other and grinning. For the rest of lunch, to the annoyance of the others, the two fed each other their lunches.

 

-

2.

 

Mark and Ethan had been friends for two years, ever since Ethan had moved into the school. Despite being socially awkward and quiet, Mark managed to get the blue-haired boy to talk and ever since they had become inseparable. Whenever one was sick and didn’t show up to school, the other would either go home or mope all day.

 

So it wasn’t a surprise that they walked into school one day holding hands. It should have been a surprise, but it wasn’t.

 

They both had smug smiles on their faces, though Ethan’s cheeks were slightly red. As they walked up to the normal group, this time it was Felix that questioned them.

 

“What the fuck, dude?” he asked, directing his question more to Mark – who was the more confident of the two.

 

It was, surprisingly, Ethan who answered. He lifted their intertwined hands up and grinned, “We’re in love.”

 

And that was that. For the rest of the day, blue and red were holding hands whenever they weren’t in the classroom or the bathroom – and the group, for the life of them, couldn’t work out _why._

 

-

3.

 

The other thing they did was flirt. _A lot._

 

So much so that when everyone in the group heard it, they just passed it off as a ‘Team Purple thing’. So when Amy walked past a muffled “hold tight” in Ethan’s voice as she passed an assumingly empty classroom, you couldn’t blame her for stopping and retracing her steps.

 

Listening in, she managed to hear quite well what was going on.

 

“Mark, seriously- hold still otherwise it’ll rip.”

 

“You’re taking forever though! Ow- fuck Ethan that really hurt.”

 

“Poor baby, it’s your fault for getting it stuck in you. Now hold still!”

 

“You’re the one that thrust it in me you asshole-!”

 

Amy blinked, furrowing her brows. They couldnt be doing… _that_ in the classroom, could they? Even those two would never do that if they weren’t dating. She shook her head, focusing on the conversation again.

 

“Never took you for the kinky type, blueberry.”

 

“I swear to god Mark, I’ll make you scream so hard your face will be as red as your goddamn hair.”

 

“Now what makes you think you’d be the one making _me_ scream, blue boy?”

 

At that point, and after a sound that sounded suspiciously like Mark groaning, she burst into the classroom, only to find Ethan and Mark staring at her in shock; a sharpener in Mark’s hair and Ethan’s hand around it like he was trying to get it out.

 

She stared at the two boys, who were both red-faced (probably from her bursting in on them) before overcoming her shock. “I- um-” she stuttered out, taking a step back. “I thought I left something in here- and- I better go,” she mumbled, before turning on her heel and walking out quickly.

 

As she closed the door, she heard Ethan say “weird, you’d think she walked in on us doing the do if that reaction was anything to go by.”

 

-

 

4.

 

“Dude, you have to see this,” Sean said one day, sitting next to Mark and across from Amy and Kathryn. For once Ethan wasn’t around (he was sick with the flu, and he had forbade Mark from coming anywhere near him while he was still contagious), so the group used this opportunity to get Mark by himself.

Mark blinked, scooting over so he could see what Sean was trying to show him. On the screen was an instagram post from one of their classmates, of a photo that depicted Ethan and Mark looking like they were legitimately kissing. Looking up, Mark saw all the questioning frowns his friends were giving him, and all he could do in response was shrug his shoulders and say “oops?”

 

Amy leaned in, one eyebrow raised. “Ooops? Did that actually happen?”

 

“Well I mean- are we not gonna call out this student who stalked my _best friend_ and I?” Mark spluttered, putting emphasis on the ‘best friend’ part.

 

It was Felix this time who decided to speak up. “Don’t try and derail us, Fischbach. What happened?”

 

Mark blinked, looking at his friends. They were all staring at him intently. Even Kathryn, who was only just asleep on the table mere moments ago, was watching him. “I- uh- Okay, it did happen but I tripped into him and we may have kissed?” he paused for a moment. “And no, he really is sick. I don’t think he really cared about it.”

 

Amy pulled back, her raised eyebrow staying firmly in place (Mark hated how she looked like that, she really knew how to get him to talk). “Okay, so are you two an item yet? Or is it another ‘no homo bro, but I really like you I’m just gonna brush it off as a best friend thing’,” she scoffed, imitating a deep voice that Mark gathered was meant to be his voice.

 

Either way, he was insulted. Rolling his eyes, he said “Well I don’t do that. We just agreed we’d keep it as a platonic thing. Besides, whenever he’s upset or panicking, I kiss his forehead. He does the same to me when I’m upset, it’s a thing we do.”

 

The others looked at each other, then back to him. There wasn’t much to say about that.

 

-

5.

 

“So who’re you taking to prom, Amy?” Kathryn asked one day while the group were hanging out at the park after school. It was Ethan’s idea, after he saw how stressed his friends were beginning to get.

 

Amy hummed, a lollipop hanging from her mouth. “I’m not sure yet,” she said, before a thought occurred to her.

 

Looking over at Mark and Ethan, she found them laying next to each other and facing each other. Ethan was trying to conceal badly hidden giggles in Mark’s chest, while the taller man was doing his ‘I’m laughing but it’s silent but my face is scrunched up a lot’ face. “Not that that’s not super cute or anything, but,” she paused, watching as they slowly calmed down and looked at her. “You aren’t at home yet,” she finished, grinning.

 

She watched as their faces went red, and they both sat up. Sean was laughing loudly at the reaction, while Kathryn and Felix both had grins on their faces. Tyler, the quiet one of the group, was smiling as well. “So you two, who are you guys gonna be taking to prom?” she asked eventually, adapting her ‘one eyebrow raised’ look.

Mark paused, looking at Ethan; who just shrugged. “Actually, we made a pact that we’ll go together and try to outdo each other as dates.”

 

“Loser has to do whatever the winner wants for a week,” Mark added, crossing his arms. “Ethan’s idea, not mine. He just has no idea how much I’m gonna use him when I win.”

 

The blue-haired boy went red at the innuendo, rolling his eyes. “Oh don’t worry baby, when _I_ win, I’m gonna leave you begging for more,” he said seriously, staring straight at his best friend.

 

Mark raised his eyebrows. “Oh? How confident,” he grinned deviously.

 

Ethan was about to retort until Kathryn’s voice cut through. “Okay! Enough! Jeez can you guys not go one hour without being weird or sexual?” she huffed, causing both boys to laugh.

 

Amy grinned, her arm around Kathryn’s shoulders, but it was Tyler that spoke up. “No, she has a point. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you two together without you touching or flirting in some way,” he said pointedly, leaning back on his elbows.

 

Both boys looked at each other, then shrugged and faced their friends again. “It’s our thing, you wouldn’t understand,” Ethan eventually said.

 

-

6.

 

“Okay, what are you two up to now?” Felix asked as he reached the lunch table, spotting Ethan and Mark staring at each other intently.

 

Both boys ignored him, so he turned to Sean for help. “Staring contest, they’ve been at it for five minutes already,” the Irish boy responded, looking up from his phone. “They’re also touching each other’s thighs and I’m worried they broke each other.”

 

Felix snorted. “Not surprising at all,” he hummed, watching the red-head and the blue-head keep their staring contest up.

 

It only seemed to continue for a minute more, until Mark (surprisingly) blinked first. “Yes!” Ethan cheered, his face splitting into a big grin. “Suck it, Mark!”

 

Beside him, Felix felt Sean stiffen and choke at the words, but the Swede only looked with an amused expression as Mark managed to keep a straight face and say “sure thing babe, when and where?”

 

-

7.

 

“Another staring contest?” Amy groaned, watching as Ethan and Mark turned to face each other- hands intertwined. “Oh god, no. Please no.”

 

Mark shook his head, a smile resting on his face. “Nope, this time we’re staring lovingly into each others eyes,” he hummed.

“Exactly, we do this to give each other strength for our next classes,” Ethan said softly, his hand buried under Mark’s large one. “It’s vital that we do this. We keep the bromance alive this way.”

 

Sean snorted. “I think it’s way past bromance at this stage,” he uttered, but both boys ignored his statement.

 

They were, after all, doing a vital ritual for their _bromance._

 

-

 

8.

 

By the time prom rolled around, everyone had dates (or, in Amy’s case, friends) to go with. So when Mark knocked on Ethan’s door, donned in a suit with a rose in hand, he really didn’t know what to expect. Joking aside, he had no idea what to expect of the night or what Ethan would expect.

 

When the door opened, his head snapped up and his eyes rested upon his best friend, who looked _hot_ in a suit. Ethan had a plain black suit on with an electric blue tie to match his hair, and his face looked like it had cleared up a bit for the night (Mark knows for a fact that Ethan refuses to use makeup, knowing it’ll only make his face break out more).

 

“Yo, earth to Mark?” Ethan’s voice snapped Mark out of his thoughts, and he found the shorter male had been waving a hand in his face. “You okay, man? I mean I know I look fucking _amazing_ in a suit, but I didn’t think I looked that good.”

 

Mark huffed, rolling his eyes. “I look better,” he said. His eyes shifted to the rose in his hand, and he held it out with a grin. “For my lovely date tonight,” he added, watching as Ethan took the rose with red cheeks.

 

“Okay, well,” Ethan huffed, pulling out a blue corsage and a red corsage from behind his back. “I got gifts too. You get the blue one, to match with me. And I’ll have the red one, to match with you,” he said, grinning as he handed Mark the blue one.

 

The taller male took his, his cheeks now coloured red as well. He was about to comment on it when Ethan stepped out of the house and shut the door. “Well, what are we waiting for?” the blue-haired boy grinned, holding out his arm. “Lets go!”

 

Mark blinked, before taking his hand and leading him to their car.

 

-

9.

 

(Ethan ended up winning the bet, and asked Mark out on a proper date.)

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on tumblr @ galaxy-joseph


End file.
